In order to promote a better understanding of the subject invention, as alluded to in the Abstract, it is deemed beneficial to present a background of information in order that the attributes or advantages of the improved knife can be compared with a prior knife that has been and is still being used in the food processing industry.
Prior knives 121 are shown for cutting a product in a Joe R. Urschel and Gerald W. Urschel U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,296 which issued on Sept. 11, 1962. This Patent is owned by Urschel Laboratories, Inc. of Valparaiso, Ind. Knives like 121, and other prior knives, hereinafter described, have been utilized extensively in equipment manufactured by Urschel Laboratories, Inc. for slicing string beans lengthwise for many years in the United States and an appreciable number of years in foreign countries, and is still being used with success by food processors.
It may be stated that past method of making a knife requires a machine to cut away pieces of metal for each serration. This is time consuming and therefore expensive. There is a practical limit to how much metal can be removed by this method and therefore a limit as to how deep and how wide the serrations can be made. When food processors use these knives, the knives are resharpened when they become dull. This sharpening is done by making a new narrow bevel on the side of the knife opposite the serrations so that the serrations are not removed. There is a limit to how many times the knives may be resharpened before the serrations are removed and the knife becomes useless. It is sometimes desirable to have the serrations extend inward toward the center of the knife a good distance. The reason for this is that when the circular knives are spaced close together for cutting certain products into thin strips, the wedging of a food product between adjacent knives helps to pull the product through them. The fact that it is not practical to make serrations deep into the knife by past methods of making serrations caused limited use of knives made by this method.